Monday, September 16, 2013

Birth Story 2.O

It took me two and a half months to write Finn's birth story (and another 16 months after that to write- privately- about my post-partum complications). So the fact that I'm sitting down to get these words out with Cormac only four weeks old is a really good indicator that things were a whole lot simpler this time around. So there will be no eight-part birth saga, and thank God, no follow up drama-filled aftermath post. Just a quick little timeline of birth the second time around...a (pretty special) day in the life if you will. ;)

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7:45 am. I am 37 weeks, 4 days pregnant. I wake up after a crappy night of sleep and am vaguely aware of having kind of a stomach ache. I couldn't sleep at all the night before. Murphy's law says that because I am up, Finn is choosing this morning to sleep in.

8:30 am. I go get Finn from his crib and tell him he can come into bed with me and watch cartoons on the iPad. I'm way too exhausted to care about the excessive screen time he's been getting towards the end of my pregnancy. I'm in and out of sleep next to him, mumbling incoherently in response as he tells me about his Curious George episode.

9:30 am. We're still in bed. I am feeling guilty about my stellar parenting but am too exhausted to do anything about it. I'm really hurting but am still thinking it's from the lack of sleep, general end of pregnancy aches and pains, and maybe I have to go to the bathroom? As will be the theme of the morning, I'm in complete denial that it could be anything more. Finn is requesting breakfast and I decide that breakfast in bed is a fabulous idea- any way that I can close my eyes for a few minutes more. I muster up the energy to go downstairs and get him a pancake, grapes, and milk. I put it on a tray and everything.

Rough life

10:00 am. I'm texting with my mom and telling her that Finn's being spoiled rotten by me during his remaining time as an only child. I mention how tired I am and tell her she should go ahead and come down to Maryland now, instead of in six days like we had planned.

10:23 am. For about the past twenty minutes I'm noticing that my "stomach ache" is kind of coming and going. So I upgrade my ailment to "crampy braxton hicks". De-nial. I text my husband:

10:30 am. I get in the shower, thinking, "gosh this is so weird, I have to almost stop what I'm doing when I get one of these weird braxton hicks contractions." This thought actually goes through my brain. I'm kind of feeling the pain shoot down into my thighs now. I start looking at the clock and notice that they're coming pretty regularly about five minutes apart. When I get out of the shower I ask Dr. Google how to tell a BH contraction from the real thing. When one of the answers is that a real contraction might radiate into your legs or back I think that the website is probably being overly cautious. I'm a second time mom so I would totally know if I were in labor. I'm definitely not, so I blowdry and flat-iron my hair, put on makeup and work clothes. I'm supposed to leave for work at 11:30.